It’s that time again for GROC to host it's annual Member Meeting. We would like to invite our members and all trail work volunteers to come out for some pizza and beer and hear about all the latest and greatest news from GROC. During the meeting we plan to…

GROC has had some great successes this season and they are all due to volunteers donating their time, talents, and sometimes finances to this organization. To show our appreciation we wanted to start highlighting the awesome work our volunteers have contributed over the season.

To kick things off we would like to highlight Rick Statt, a new volunteer to GROC this year. Ricky has been connected with the Rochester Downhillers group for some time, but he was instrumental in leading the charge in designing the new jump lines that will be coming to Dryer Rd. in the near future (stay tuned, more info on this soon!). We’re thankful that he was willing to put himself out there, not only to advocate for a project he was passionate about, but also to volunteer his time and knowledge into making it happen. Ricky also contributed a great deal to the construction of the new Yellow Trail in Bay Park West, and most recently has been working on a sweet reroute in the North section of Tryon Park.

In our endeavor to create more riding opportunities for advanced riders, Rick has been a valuable resource. BIG THANKS RICK!

Edition #4 of Love Your Trails will be at ONTARIO COUNTY PARK at 9am on Saturday, September 24th and is generously sponsored by our friends at TRYON BIKE.

At this session of LYT, we'll mostly focus on digging a brand new trail! The design (noted in red below) links the campgrounds with the Green trail and will be an excellent addition to the network. The design is approved and materials are in place. We'll also be painting boardwalks and some other maintenance projects as turnout and weather allows.

After we finish a couple hours of trail work, we'll have a grill going with food and beverages back at the lot. We'll celebrate our work, hang out and there will be group rides going out.

Please join your friends from TRYON BIKE and GROC to give back to the trails that give us so much...see you there!

What to Bring:

• Flat and Pointed Shovels

• Rogue Hoes

• Lambertons

• Tampers

• Hydration and Trail Food

What to Wear:

• Work Clothes and Gloves

• Eye Protection

• Sturdy Footwear

• Bug Spray (recommended)

RSVP: We greatly appreciate your RSVP, so that we can know how much food and drink to provide. Thanks!

And... SPREAD THE WORD! With YOUR support, the trail riding community will thrive and new riding opportunities will develop. Get involved!

It's all about focus when you're riding your favorite trail. You focus on what line to take, how to clear the rooted section up ahead, hopping a log feature, attacking a steep uphill—or avoiding a chipmunk. But you also need to focus on a very important aspect of off-road biking: Public Relations.

Our trails are specified as "multiple use" trails, meaning, well, you can pretty much figure it out. Chances are good that you'll encounter other users who are not on bikes: hikers, dog walkers, bird watchers—dog watchers, etc. We all need to become ambassadors of our sport and welcome other users by slowing down, pulling over, saying hello, chatting for a minute or two, and generally just being friendly. In the past, off-road biking has sometimes gotten a bad rap due to "kids almost running people over," etc. We've all heard stories like that. If you walk the trails, you'll find that those stories are no longer true. Most bikers pull over, say hello, and let you pass. Off-road bikers are not disrespectful "kids" hell bent on running down anything in their path, but a responsible and socially-diverse cross section of who we are in Western New York. We just need to change a few perceptions that are stubbornly sticking to us. There's always Whiteface or Killington if you want to bomb down a trail and be in the zone without thinking of anything else. On our local trails though, it's inevitable that we'll encounter others who are moving slower than us, whether it's slower bikers or other users. We still have some ground to cover on the way to proving we care about our local trails more than anyone else.

So, on your next ride, keep in mind that you're also campaigning. You're the instigator for change and an ambassador of good will for all of us. We all represent each other when we're out there. So have good trail manners, pull over for another user, slow down, smile, say hello, shake some hands, pet a dog or two, and let people know we care about preserving trail use for everyone. A positive image in the mind of the non-biking community will help ensure off-road biking will have a place on our trails for years to come.

But of course, don't forget to nail that gnarly, rocky, rooted downhill.

As you know, the primary mission of GROC is to provide and maintain your access to off-road cycling trails. By doing so, GROC also has created a large community of mountain bikers. This has led to the opportunity to have many different types of events both on and off the trails.

All of our events have been put on by the same small core group of volunteers, mostly members of the GROC Board of Directors. This dedicated group is also heavily involved in the vital tasks of running the organization, interfacing with land managers and running trail work parties, to the tune of thousands of volunteer hours over the years since GROC has been in existence. To continue to create and put on successful events, we really need others to step up.

The purpose of this letter is to ask each of you about your interest in having events, what types of events you would like to see, and whether you would be willing to help plan and run events. Please follow the link below and take a very brief questionnaire. We appreciate your input!